


Lost between Fairies and Leafs

by Rinsegaku



Category: Fairy Tail, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, De-aged Naruto, Different time span between worlds, Exeed!Kurama, F/M, Gen, Mage!Naruto, Mayor changes in some parts of Fairy Tail's history, Memory Loss, Misterious return to the Elemental Nations, Naruto is Natsu's brother, Naruto is a member of Fairy Tail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 07:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12103944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinsegaku/pseuds/Rinsegaku
Summary: Naruto has spent his whole life in the company of his brother and guildmates, including his first alternate-universe experience, but this time he finds himself stranded in an unknown world, with only Kurama at his side and no idea about how to return home.Meanwhile, a group of seven time-traveling shinobi have spent the last three (almost four) years looking for the eighth member of their group, but when they finally find him they also find that he has an unexpected guardian, and that something has happened to him. He may not be the same Naruto they remember.Let the worlds colide.





	Lost between Fairies and Leafs

_"A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory... A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream... I want to line up the pieces... both yours, and mine"_

* * *

It was a wonderful day to take a stroll in the forests of the Land of Fire. The sun was up and warm, but the wind blew swiftly in cool and refreshing waves, almost caressing the leaves in the trees as it passed through them, while the birds sang their tunes happily on their branches, enjoying the peaceful feeling surrounding them.

* * *

"AHHHHHH! DON’T LET ME FALL! DON’T LET ME FAAAAALL!!!"

**“WHAT DO YOU THINK I’M TRYING TO DO!? BRACE YOURSELF! THIS WILL BE A ROUGH LANDING!”**

**“** AHHHHHHHHH!”

**“AHHHHHHHHH!”**

* * *

A big cloud of dust rose on the spot the screaming duo landed, the peaceful atmosphere gone for good as the birds scattered somewhere else, and two loud groans echoed close to a nearby clearing, followed by the tired-sounding voices from the owners of said groans.

“What the _hell_ was that!?” a teenager asked, his messy and spiky blonde hair almost shining with the sun, and his blue cerulean eyes wide with unbelief.

“Your guess is as good as mine kid” a small and cute fox with red-orange fur said, mirroring the expression of the blonde boy, the three tails swinging on his rear clearly agitated and the two small angel-like wings sprouting from his back flapped vigorously, keeping the animal floating besides his companion “one minute we were after those guys, then they _somehow_ managed to get you inside their carriage - I still don't know how that happened, since it was _us_ the ones chasing _them-_ "

“S-shut up! I was only trying to get the stuff they stole back! ‘Sides, s’not my fault I get sick inside vehicles… man, I _hate_ vehicles.”

"Yeah, you and Natsu both I’m sure” the fox said with a snort, before changing his tone to a dramatic one “for every hero of legend must have an arch-nemesis, and yours so happen to be the guys who drives anything that moves” he couldn’t keep the straight face by the end of the sentence, so he ended it laughing hard, making the blonde teenager scowl.

"Shut up fuzzball, it must have something to do with how powerful we are - I don’t care what Gajeel says about it."

“And Wendy?”

“... She’s just immune to it?”

"Suuuure, just keep repeating that to yourself and maybe one day you'll believe it."

The teen just stuck his tongue out “So how we ended here? I can’t remember much between feeling sick and falling from the sky.”

"Well, I tried to burn the carriage, but you just ate the fire before it did any relevant damage-”

“Heh, sorry”

“-and before I could think about doing something else this... big, swirly thing in the sky appeared, only pulling us up towards it.”

"Big and swirly…” the teen said with his eyebrows furrowed and a hand on his chin “You mean like an Anima?”

“Now that you mention it… it _did_ look something like that… Huh. Anyway! the thing is that once it sucked us up we ended up there free-falling" The fox signaled the sky with his paw.

"An Anima… We only know of one person who could create something like that, and it would mean-”

“Mystogan? Are you crazy? How could he do something like that if, first, there was no more magic left in Edolas after we were taken back to Magnolia, and second, well, he’s from Fairy Tail, isn’t he? Would you doubt a promise from your Nakama?”

The blonde boy blushed and scratched the back of his head, trying to hide his face under his scarf and mumbling something that nobody could understand.

“Besides, I don’t remember any part of Edolas that looked like this forest, and remember we had a pretty nice look of the kingdom from the floating islands.”

"Fine! Fine, not Edolas” the blond boy snapped, earning an amused smirk from the fox “Then where in the first’s name are we? Because I’m sure as hell we’re not in Magnolia anymore… I would bet we’re not even in Earthland anymore!”

“Stop whining Naruto! Complaining won’t solve anything. Let’s see… Magic?”

Naruto snapped his fingers and a flame appeared on them, earning a nod from the small fox.

“Magic, check. Eternano in the air?” he sniffed the air and made motions of tasting something with his muzzle “Nope, can’t feel anything.”

“Then we’re in another world without magic, but at least we still have _our_ magic, right? That should make things easier.”

“Hear hear.”

“Sooo… any idea how we’ll get back to Earthland? I’m sure Natsu will get worried if we’re not back at the guild to congratulate him once he returns with that S rank under the belt."

"You mean _if_ he gets the promotion."

"Come on Kurama! You _know_ how hard we trained for the trials the entire previous week, he even learned to channel some of the lightning magic he ate from Laxus during the guild battle!”

“And you’re not envious of him in the slightest” Kurama said with a deadpan, sarcasm thick on his voice “I still believe he should have taken you instead of Happy… not that I have anything against the kitten, but he’s not exactly fighting material.”

"Hey! Happy has more than enough fight in him! Or have you forgotten Nirvana? Besides, the idea of the trial is that it has to be a challenge, and you know that when I team up with Natsu we are quite overkill. So far only Erza, Gildarts and the Master managed to stop us without _much_ collateral damage."

"You forget Mystogan."

“He only made us sleep with his weird magic, so _technically_ that’s cheating.”

“ _Technically_ you don’t like to admit you lost.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes, but decided to say nothing about that.

"This is a way to test ourselves. If each of us is strong enough to make S-class without the help of the other, then we will be able to find Igneel in no time" he said, making his furry companion roll his eyes once more in mock annoyment.

"That's the dragon twins for you, no way but the hard one. Hey, a thought just occured to me... what if here we can’t use all of our magic? I mean, you could cast a spell at full strength, but it would come out just with half the power."

“You think?”

“It could be” the fox answered with a shrug “the only way to be sure would be actually casting a spell.”

Naruto nodded before inhaling deeply, puffing his cheeks and forming a trumpet with his hands in front of his mouth.

_"Karyuu no_ …"

Seeing this, Kurama's eyes widened at the same time he tried to stop him, but he reacted too late.

"… _Hooko_!"

The blonde breathed out, and a magic seal appeared in front of his hands, making the breath turn into a big stream of fire coming out, burning everything in it's wake… and starting a forest fire.

"Naruto, you _flame brain_ …" Kurama said while face…pawing? "The idea was to do the experiment somewhere less _flammable_!"

"Hehehe…sorry?" He answered while scratching the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. Only then he noticed that the fire was spreading quite fast.

"I suggest we make our escape now, before someone blames us for this."

"Already ahead of you!" Kurama shouted, already halfway out of the clearing.

"Oi! Wait for me!" Naruto shouted, running after his friend until they both disappeared from eyesight.

Unknown to them, a silhouette shot out of a nearby tree branch after spying their conversation, darting to a village not too far from there.

A shimmer of light through the trees revealed silver colored hair.

* * *

Tsunade Senju’s day was _not_ going nicely. The Godaime Hokage was anchored to her desk with a shitload of paperwork, originated from the meeting the council had just adjourned by the _honorable counsellors_ due to her… _rash decision._

Heh, let the old coots delay the inevitable.

She had already decided who their replacements would be, and there was no way in hell she would let that damned council overrule her again.

She'd had enough of that the first time.

Ah, her _beloved_ counselors were Koharu Utatane and Homura Mikotado,  two old geezers that would fit better in a museum rather than in the village council, too wrapped up on their little game of politics to notice what was _really_ going on beyond the walls of Konoha.

The reason her sensei decided to keep them for so long still eluded her.

True, once upon a time their advice would have been considered wise. More than enough experience granted by the wars they lived through backing their position, and being tutored by the Shodaime _and_ Nidaime Hokage themselves? Even she would have respected that, but right now, in the present, they were far past their prime to be in active force (even if Sarutobi-sensei had been able to keep up with Orochimaru at his age) and their knowledge was better suited for the education of new genin rather than ruling a village.

Funny thing, despite their influential position they would be the easier ones to remove from the council.

Using loopholes on the laws of the village and taking their age on account, it was easy to convince them that leaving with a promise of retirement with honors, a generous monthly pension as a token of gratitude for their long service to the village, and a place in the academy that allowed them to tutor the teachers with topics that they deemed worthy of reviewing in the annual academy curriculum.

Well, it was either that or be kicked out to a retirement house with just an honorific mention for their service to the village, so there was no much choice for them - even if that second option sounded more appealing to Tsunade.

Shikamaru _advised_ that it would bring more benefits to their long term goals if those two though they still held any relevance in the village hierarchy, but she knew the lazy boy would also rather feed them to the aberrations inside the Forest of Death.

It was Danzo the one who brought them the most trouble.

At the start it was easy to gather evidence against him and ROOT because, unlike the last time, they knew _exactly_ what, and where, to look out for, but the old war hawk was no fool and quickly noticed the leaks of information about his secret division.

He took his paranoia one step up, and started being even _more_ cautious to avoid being under the spotlight. It took nearly two years to finally get enough evidence to confront him without worries of the plan backfiring on them in political fields - now _that_ would have been a _pain,_ a civil war was the last thing they would have liked to deal with.

And the shady bastard wouldn’t go down easily, forcing them into one of his secret hideouts - the one under the Hokage monument, to be exact - when they made their move to arrest him, Sasuke personally asking to be the one to pluck out the stolen eyes of his fallen clan once he had been defeated, specially the one of his uncle Shisui. Ironically enough it was the sacrifice of that very same eye what allowed Danzo to escape along with a little group of his most loyal - brainwashed ROOT operatives - followers.

In the previous… timeline? It had been Sasuke who took Danzo out of the picture before the war actually started - out of revenge and without thinking about the possible benefit, true, but it had been helpful anyway... with him alive she feared the outcome would have been worse than it had been.

They had to go back in time for a chance to prevent the war from happening, it was _that_ bad already.

But this time said boy was only 15 years, and even with the help of his Eternal Magenkyo, which had _somehow_ remained there despite the time reset, and a quite wide repertoire of jutsus - for his age - they could only get him so far without the stamina and chakra reserves he had developed in the past.

The intervention of every member of their little group had been necessary to take care of Danzo and his little circus, and even if the goal was to kill him, making him flee the village was an… _acceptable_ outcome, she guessed, even if the war hawk promised to return one day to make sure that Konoha _‘would get it's true place among the other villages_.’

Yeah sure, and she would let Jiraya fight the Six Paths of Pain alone again.

The paperwork, the meeting, the council and the memory of Danzo had been enough to sour further her bad mood, but surprisingly those reasons had not provoked it.

It was the date itself.

When they returned to this point of their lives after their little experiment with the Hiraishin seal array, they found out that they arrived just when Naruto went after Sasuke on the retrieval mission fiasco during the original timeline.

They all knew that Naruto had bought time for the seal to work, stalling Madara just enough before also jumping in... not after being seriously injured by said Uchiha. The injury managed to disrupt his chakra enough to provoke an unpleasant side effect from the seal on him.

The painful and distorted screams were more than enough proof of that.

Still, all of them expected to greet both, a badly battered Naruto and Sasuke, along with Kakashi when he sent the message that he was returning from the Valley of end.

Sadly once again only one boy returned, but this time it was the one with black instead of blond hair.

In their original timeline, Naruto would have been shouting to the entire village that he had finally returned from his trip with Jiraiya by this time.

For the rest of the world oblivious to her plight, today was the day she got extra pissed off by the mountains of paperwork she had to endure on a daily basis.

Search parties were sent out almost everyday, most of the time leaded by each one of the travelers, she included, to look for the blonde idiot that made possible this second chance, despite what he had to endure those last weeks.

Even as Hokage she would not let pass a chance to look for her little brother, but so far there had been no signs of him appearing, so slowly hope started to leave her as the years passed by… she would never stop searching, but sometimes she wondered if she would see the kid ever again.

"Tsunade-sama" the woman stretched her arm to punch whoever caught her unaware, and instantly a log was turned into splinters by the punch.

Once she regained her composure, she noticed a pale Kakashi staring her from a corner of the office.

"If it's not good news about the search party for Naruto you commanded today, Kakashi, better get out of my sight. I'm not in the mood to have small chat… at least not today."

Remembering why he was here, and silently thanking his foresight in hiding that log in the office for situations like this one, Kakashi straightened himself and stepped to the desk to give his report.

"I found him" he said with an eye smile.

"I told you that if it wasn't about…" she stopped herself from cracking her knuckles when the words finally registered on her mind.

It must be stated that 'registering' means not the same as 'understanding'.

"Huh?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to facepalm. True, she is the strongest kunoichi and best medic-nin in the entire elemental nations, capable of being scary as hell when she wishes to, but right now she looked as clueless as a fresh genin in the middle of a battlefield.

"I said that I finally found Naruto, he-"

* * *

"HE’S BACK!? AND HE DID WHAT!?"

The scream could be heard all around Konoha and in the near forests, making 6 people and a small fox turn their heads towards the source. Five of them immediately recognized what it meant and ran as fast as they could towards the office of the obvious owner of the scream.

The blonde teenager in the forest running away from the massive fire just shrugged it as his imagination and kept running, while the small fox stopped dead on his tracks for a second, floating on the spot.

"Was that…?"

He was forcefully cut off from his musing by a hand pulling him farther away from the raging fire, Naruto yelling at him to fly faster, clearly not noticing that he was now dragging him.

Seeing it didn't mattered at the moment, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

* * *

 

Kakashi just sighed and waited for everyone else to arrive, after calming Tsunade of course... which caused him to unseal at least half a dozen of logs he had stored in scrolls to aid in emergencies during battles, or situations like this one.

He should consider suggesting that sealed logs become part of the standard Konoha nin gear when in missions away from the forests of the Land of Fire.

Anyway, in less than a minute five other people entered the office, each one trying to get their own questions answered before the others, only managing to make the situation even more annoying than what it already was because even if he understood the common desire to know the current whereabouts of their lost blond, he came to the Hokage’s office in hopes of discussing this matter privately with Tsunade first.

He was sure the blond boy he saw was Naruto, but... what was that weird energy he was wielding? As a Jounin Kakashi had more than enough experience with sensing Chakra being molded to know that whatever Naruto used to cause that forest fire was _not_ Chakra, or at least not entirely... did he called it magic?

And, there was also the matter of the people he overheard him talking about, quite fondly he noticed, during his conversation with that small fox… that had three tails, and looked really similar to the giant fox that attacked the village so many years ago and was supposedly sealed inside Naruto.

Where had he been all this time? Who were those people he was talking about? And why was that fox so damn cute?!

"KAKASHI!"

The shout from Tsunade woke him up from his inner debate, only to face said woman glaring at him and releasing enough Killer intent to make even Orochimaru shiver.

"Where. Did. You. Find. Him."

"I…ehh…THE FOREST!" Kakashi shouted frantically under the effect of the heavy dose of killing intent that was directed towards him, not only from Tsunade, but from every person present there, all clearly annoyed from _not_ knowing where Naruto was.

Once the pressure lifted enough to let the Cyclops breath normally again, he explained further.

"I found him in the forest outside of the village, northeast from the gates, but lost sight of him before I could make contact. You would have to be blind to miss the fire that he caused with this strange fire technique he used... weird it can't be seen from-"

"Fire?" Asked Sasuke, noticing the little detail that made everyone in the room focus on him "Since when the dobe knows how to use fire release? If I’m not wrong, which I’m not, he was very proficient with wind release, but far from capable with any other element."

Everyone nodded, realizing that with all the worry of the war upon their heads and their current task of preventing said war nobody cared to look into little details like that.

"I'm not sure that was an elemental release at all Sasuke, the energy he used on it was different, and there was also this weird seal that materialized out of nowhere-"

"Kakashi, are you sure this is Naruto?" Tsunade asked in a serious tone, storing that little snippet of information for later consideration. If this was really naruto then the priority was to get him back inside the village.

If she heard the council bitching once more how she lost the Village’s greatest weapon, or how the civilian side still held celebrations every year the day Naruto went MIA she would… _retire_ them personally.

"Positive” Kakashi said with a nod “all the physical treats are still there, the hair, the eyes, even the whisker marks on his cheeks… he still is a carbon copy of Minato-sensei. But that fire I told you about was quite big, no doubt it will cause him problems once he is back."

Then he smiled and spoke on that casual and lazy tone that was just his "He still does things before thinking about it…guess that never will change huh?"

Everyone chuckled at this, remembering how Naruto was before war times, and sometimes even during it, not at all worried that there was a raging fire burning up the forest around their village.

"Then I guess the priority now is to stop the fire. Grab Tenzo, or anyone really, it shouldn’t matter as long as the work is done. Hinata, Sakura, you two go with whoever goes to look for Naruto once you’re done with the fire" but seeing the face of the rest of the people in the room… “fine, go all of you, except Kalashi. I need you here in case our steemed elders decide to make a surprise visit. Again. Dismissed.”

"Tch, what a drag.”

“What is it now Shikamaru?” Sakura asked.

“I don’t mean to say Kakashi is lying” The Nara said with a sigh “but don’t you think that if this person we’re talking about really is Naruto then he would already be here at the village? Where else would he go at this point in time if not here, Suna?”

That made everyone pause and think.

“We should go anyway, that fire could become a potential threat if it really is of the magnitude Kakashi implies, I guess we can deal with… _Naruto_ once that is do-”

A slap from Hinata made him shut up.

“Three years Shikamaru, I’ve- We’ve waited for three years to tell Naruto how sorry we are. I doubt Kakashi-san would be lying about something like that” with that she stepped out of the office, followed by everyone else except Tsunade, Kakashi and Shikamaru.

“Shika-”

“No, she’s right Kakashi, I shouldn’t have doubted you… not with this, but… it feels too good to be true, you know?”

Nobody said anything else.

“If you excuse me” and with that the last teenager left the office.

“Tsunade, he-”

“We all lost hope at one point Kakashi, and that gave us the relief that we wouldn’t face our mistakes… he’s a genius, but I bet he has no idea about what to do now, just like all of us.”

“You were always known for doing terrible bets.”

“I know…”

With that both adults turned away from each other, and while Tsunade busied herself calling Shizune and coordinating Naruto’s welcome, Kakashi just walked behind the desk and stared at the face of the fourth from the window of the office, not for the first time asking his sensei for forgiveness for allowing so much to happen to Naruto, and for strength to face yet another failure in his life.

* * *

If someone ever asked Naruto if there was something he didn’t like about his brother, he would immediately answer that Natsu sometimes tended to me a little… _immature._ Igneel had, not literally, burned in their minds the idea that they needed to test their strength by fighting stronger foes _every time_ they found one, and Natsu _really_ took it by heart.

He had managed to understand that demanding a fight by _starting_ the fight wasn’t really the smart thing to do - thanks to various… _lessons_ given by Erza, Mira, Laxus, Kurama, and even the old man himself - but Natsu? It was most likely that Mira would remain away from Lisanna's next date with his brother.

Or that Lucy would agree to go on a da- a mission just with him again.

Ahhh, _Lucy…_

It was just because of that he could keep himself hidden behind some bushes with Kurama once he found _them._

Even if just barely.

They had been running for quite some time already and he was bored, so he slowed the pace and decided to explore, much to Kurama’s annoyance, feeling this strange feeling of… _deja-vu_ , like he had already been here, his feet subconsciously taking him to a worn out track made through the trees by sheer use, all the while resisting this strange urge to jump on top of a tree branch and jump from one to another.

It was really confusing.

It was while he tried to make sense of this strange feeling that he heard voices nearby talking, moving in the direction of the fire they had left behind, so curious about what would that people do with the fire, and also knowing that following them could possibly take him, and Kurama, somewhere they could get help returning to Earthland, he did just that, dragging the oddly silent fox behind him and keeping his distance.

Until they reached the fire, and all the self-restraint beaten into him was put to test.

First a guy with the most strange haircut - it resembled the to part of a pineapple - did some weird _things_ with his hands before slamming them to the ground and shouting a name, right before the shadows - because it could only be shadows - underneath him extended and enveloped _the whole area on fire_ stopping it from growing any bigger.

“Whatever you're going to do, do it fast” the guy said panting “This isn’t as easy as I make it look.”

Then a blind girl - because her eyes didn’t had pupils - with pretty blue-ish colored hair stepped and did the same weird things the pineapple guy did with his hands, so that should be the way the people casted spells in this world. The next second she started to let out gallons upon gallons of water over the contained fire, managing to make a large pool out of it.

She was bent over, with her hands at her knees and panting heavily once the deed was done, but she looked quite pleased with herself.

Finally, a girl with Natsu’s same hair color adjusted her gloves with a smirk before repeating the same thing the others did with her hands, then _punched_ the ground, making cracks spread through all the encased area and draining all the water on it.

Only then the pineapple guy released the spell he held the whole time and sat on the ground panting heavily.

“That” he said between gasps “took more than it should have, we need to ramp up the training.”

“ _You”_ one of the two guys that had done nothing “need to ramp up _your_ training, we are fine as we are.”

“Sasuke Uchiha” pineapple guy said, voice thick with sarcasm “helpful as always.”

Whatever the answer for this Sasuke was, it never came out because of a… dire wolf? He had never seen such a huge dog before… it came out of nowhere and was growling at the bush they were hiding behind.

Damn.

Kurama must have been as nervous as him, because he had said nothing all this time.

_'Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, Kiba and Sakura… I knew this was a familiar place, and that shout from before? no doubt that was the old hag… this is bad. If we are here now, then that means… no… that's not fair! I finally managed to get us a normal life in Earthland! With friends and family… I won’t let them take that away. We must steer clear from them and find help somewhere else.'_

Sadly, Kurama was too wrapped up on his own thoughts that he only noticed they had been discovered because when he turned to his side Naruto was gone, and after looking around for him with his head he couldn't help but let out a worried sigh and fly towards him, thinking on what to do now.

* * *

"H-hey you guys… you wouldn’t happen to know how to return to Magnolia, right? Hehehehe…”

Hinata’s brain needed a second to process what she was seeing, because she couldn’t really believe it. Or maybe she did, or maybe she had gone crazy, because… because even if Kakashi had told them he was back… it was… it was…

"Naruto? Where the hell are you?”

“Kurama, over here! I thought you didn’t see the little horse over there barking at us.”

“Oh, I saw it, what I didn’t saw was you deciding it was smart to start a conversation with strangers.”

“Oh please, you’re starting to sound like Lissana.”

“At least she has common sense, and a iota of self-preservation... that is sadly being overwritten by your brother’s stupidity.”

“Hey! Natsu is not stupid!”

“We’re talking about the same guy who thought it would be a great idea to burn half of the guild to see if then the old man would fight him then.”

Kurama’s deadpan was answered with silence.

“And I rest my case.”

Finally snapping out of their daze, the group of shinobi tried to address Naruto.

Tried.

“But Kurama! They are people!”

“Yeah, I noticed that much.”

“No, no, I mean that they must know if there’s any nearby town, or maybe they’re from a nearby town that sent their guild a mission to turn off the fire…”

“Then that’s one hell of an efficient system, not even in Crocus you get an answer to an emergency that fast.”   

“Remember that we’re in another world? Maybe here things are faster! Hey, I bet these guys can take us somewhere we can get help returning to Earthland.”

“Oi Naruto!” Kiba shouted, totally lost with Naruto’s conversation at this point. The fact that he was talking so casually with the Kyuubi - who was OUT OF THE SEAL! - only added to his confusion, and the rest of the people behind him… even Akamaru was whining at this point.

“Hm? Have we met before? How you know my name?”

“Dude, stop the prank already. Tsunade and kakashi are waiting for you back at the village! There’s so much you have to catch up before we try to change things! Well… change _more_ things, so come on! Pick the Kyuubi and let’s go!”

The smile on his face faded as Naruto’s brow furrowed more and more with what looked to be sincere confusion.

“Ehhh… _dude…_ I think you’re mistaking me with someone else… I- Why is that girl crying? H-hey, did I say something wrong? Kurama? Some help?” The fox only gave him a lifted eyebrow “Hey, ehhh… sorry? Whatever I did I swear it wasn’t intentional, sooo… stop crying… please?”  

“N-Naruto-kun… you… you really don’t remember us? K-Kyuubi-san?”

Naruto started to backtrack slowly, his hands in front of his chest in a placating way.

“Ok, this is awkward, you’re _really_ mistaking me with someone else sooo… Kurama? Let’s leave?”

“What I’ve been telling you all this time? Run for it!”

And both started to run out of the - now - clearing.

"Oi dobe, where you think you’re going!? The mutt already told you Tsunade and Kakashi are waiting for in the village!"

Naruto stopped on the spot, his mad dash with Kurama interrupted by a twitch on his eye.

"What did you just called me?"

Sasuke smirked, not having Naruto around to mess with for 3 long years cut down much of the amusement he found inside the village - not that the blonde was only a source of entertainment for him, but he did liked to annoy him, so, the moment he heard the irked tone on the blonde's voice a sense of familiarity washed over him, and he couldn't help the urge to annoy his friend/rival more for old time's sake, despite the weirdness of the situation.

"Just what you heard, _usuratonkachi_."

_'Ohhh, this guy's just begging to have his ass kicked'_ Naruto thought as he turned around to face the raven-haired teen smirking at him, glare already in place, but also smirking in anticipation for how much he was going to enjoy punching the highlights out of him.

There are few things that could really get one in Naruto's bad side, being called names was one of those things, to which he would answer with a flaming punch to the face... most of the times.

He would let the names pass with the members of the guild, they were family after all and he knew they meant no harm with them, and he would sometimes let it go during fights because… well, they were already fighting, right?

But for a guy he never saw before, least even talk to, let pass calling him _that_ without apparent reason, just like they were long time friends? Like hell he would.

Gathering enough magic power to make his point clear with only one strike, he focused it on his fist, igniting it with flames, already stretching it in a punch motion as he jumped towards the still smirking guy, full intent on wiping the smile of his face.

_"Karyuu no Tekken!"_

Everybody went on high alert when they felt the energy spike in Naruto, noticing that - like kakashi said - it wasn't chakra… or at least not totally. A second later he was turning to Sasuke with a flame-engulfed fist, ready in a punching motion.

The heat on the fist could be felt even at the distance they got between them and Naruto, and it was not even _that_ close.

No one dared to move when they saw the punch stretch in Sasuke's direction, too shocked by what was happening… Naruto attacking Sasuke, clearly meaning harm?

The punch being inches away from Sasuke's face made everyone cringe and close their eyes, those few seconds feeling like hours, and they only opened them when the voice of a clearly freaked out Sasuke was heard.

"N-Naruto? W-why t-the hell d-did you just a-attacked me?!"

The sight that greeted them was intimidating, Naruto standing there with dangerously narrowed eyes, arm still stretched.

He was, obviously, more than annoyed.

His still flame engulfed fist was stopped by a purple rib cage made of chakra. It looked seemingly unharmed, but Sasuke, wide eyed and with eternal Magenkyo active, stared at the point Naruto striked with clear surprise, and a bit of fear.

The basic, hasty made - but still supposedly unbeatable - defense had a crack, and he had been forced to take a step backwards.

The only other being capable of doing such thing with such small effort had been Itachi with his own Susano’o.

Smirk widening at the reaction he got, he was about to answer with another punch, but was stopped by Kurama's voice shouting at him.

"You are overreacting Naruto! Calm down and think about our situation, and remember Edolas… maybe it's just some misunderstanding!"

Naruto thought about that for a second, Edolas… what did that had to do with… oh… Ohhhh… his eyes widened in realization, and he felt like banging his head on a tree for being such an idiot. Surely there was another Naruto in this world and these guys were his friends, so the bastard in front of him was only joking, just like the people back in the guild.

Looking guilty to a side, he deactivated his magic, making his eyes return to their usual shape, and retreated his arm, which now was even closer to the black haired guy than the previous one, and apologized.

"I'm sorry, I-I let my emotions get the best of me, it's just… I don't like being called names, it brings back some… memories I would like to forget."

"No kidding?" Sasuke asked sarcastically while nursing a small bruise on his cheek. Even if the fist didn't hit, the force behind it was strong enough to make the air act like a weaker extension of it.

"Come on Naruto, Tsunade is going to punch us all the way to Suna if we make her wait even more."

"Eeeemmmm, weeeelllll, you see… I am not exactly who you think who I am." He said awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.

"Stop joking you baka, we need to get you back to the village. You know it's around the time that Akatsuki will make their move to Suna." Sakura said exasperatedly.

"Well… I'm Naruto, but not _your_ Naruto… it's a weird situation ya' know? It’s a kinda long and weird explanation… Kurama?"

The small fox just shrugged “It’s up to you really, I still think it’s a waste of time but whatever, when you ever hear me?”

“Hey, I _do_ hear you… sorry ok? It’s just that I feel they could _really_ help here.”

Kurama just let out another sigh and chuckled before giving Naruto a small smirk.

“Then go ahead an do it, if you need me I’ll be over there taking a nap” Naruto just pulled him into a quick hug before letting him float away, all the while the group of shinobi staring awkwardly at the clearly intimate moment.

"Where to start?" he asked himself while tapping his chin with a finger thoughtfully, a habit he had adopted from Mira "maybe start with Edolas? That could explain all this mess, and then start about my world!"

And so he told them about parallel worlds, similar-but-not-the-same people in each of them, Earthland, his guild, his friends, his family, _Lucy_ , and the situation that landed them in their current situation, Kurama just listening and offering his input here and there, satisfied with how the shinobi seemed to believe his tale… not that it was too hard to do so when you live in a world where you could _potentially_ spit lava from your mouth, have eyes with time-space twisting abilities, or even summon mountain-sized animals capable of fighting _and_ speaking.

Just a bit more and they would be out of this mess… then maybe head towards the land of snow? If memory didn’t failed him then that place was the closest thing to a city in Earthland they would get here, from there they could plan their next move, or just wing it, any of those were ok in his books.

"… and that's pretty much it. What's my name… well, the name of the other me here?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." Hinata answered sorrowfully seeing the hopes of her blond... _friend_ finally returning being turned into dust, because even if the sight before her eyes was the one of Naruto, she knew that this guy couldn't be her _\- their_ Naruto, it was impossible for the kind and friendly blonde she knew to plan such a cold and painful revenge, denying every bond between them and acting as if he never saw them before.

They _had_ messed up horribly with him, but it was hard to think of Naruto Uzumaki acting like that towards his friends.

That, and the demonstration they had of this _magic_ not too long ago was enough to make things clear for them, albeit if a little too... forceful.

"See? My name is Naruto Dragneel. Hmmm... thinking about it... It would be nice to meet the Naruto from here, it was fun to meet Edo-Natsu and Edo-Gray." He said with a smirk, remembering how different those two were from the ones he knew.

How would the Naruto from this world would be?

"Heh, get in line then because we’ve been looking for him for three years, almost four now I think… the guy went MIA during a rescue mission and we haven’t got even a whisper from him ever since” Kiba said with a smirk, but the sadness in his eyes was clear as day, just like in the eyes of the other four people gathered there.

"So when somebody spotted me..." the blond said with furrowed eyebrows "... you thought Uzumaki had returned, right?"

Everyone looked at him curiously.

"What? My name’s Naruto, and believe me when I say this can get really confusing... it is, at least for me. You can call me Dragneel if you don't want to get a headache."

"Troublesome blondes…" the Nara muttered with a tired sigh "but yeah, we thought you were Uzumaki."

Silence fell upon the group after that, the shinobi trying to cope with the fact that their hopes of meeting their blonde friend were, once again, crushed, while the mage mulled over the new information that had been relied to him, and the small fox floated next to the Dragon Slayer waiting impatiently for the moment when they would finally leave.

"Maybe..." Naruto mused after some time, making everyone turn their heads in his direction.

Also, they could swear that a flame lit up over his head, like signaling he got an idea.

"I can help you find Uzumaki, and in exchange you help us find a way to return to Earthland, what do you say?"

A chorus of ‘What?’ echoed in the clearing, one of them sounding more disbelieving than confused/curious.

“I mean” the blonde said scratching the back of his head “We have no means to return home for the moment, so I thought that maybe we could go back to your city with you and there get help from your guild. In exchange we could help you guys find your other me.”

Seeing no reason to not accept, and also striving for any kind of resemblance of their friend, Hinata and Sakura were about to accept at the moment, but Shikamaru opened his mouth before them, a frown of his face.

"Thanks for offering your help, but before accepting can I discuss this with my teammates?"

"Sure, take your time." Naruto said with a shrug, walking to a side along with Kurama.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Naruto?" The fox asked coolly, making a great effort at keeping his rising panic under control.

"Of course Kurama, this way we get to meet my counterpart here, and also get extra help finding a way to go back home, it's a win-win." he said, flashing a wide grin.

Kurama considered it for a moment. In one hand, it... could work; Jiraya - the old pervert - could work in some crazy seal-arrangement, like the one that took them to Earthland, to store some of Naruto’s eternano, then link it to somehow use it along with Kakashi's Kamui, and open a rift between dimensions allowing them to go back to Earthland, or something equally complicated and farfetched.

In theory it was plausible. He had forgotten ninjas were crafty like that, they would only need to keep away from really skilled sensors, and they could pass through this mess without making a fuzz of it.

On the other hand…

"I still feel like this is a dangerous gamble, but...  I’ll still go with it, I trust you.”

Naruto beamed and hugged the tiny fox, making him roll his eyes but smile warmly.

“I just hope you're right kit, beca-"

"Naruto-kun!"

The sound of the voice, the desperate and hopeful tone of it... it froze the fox on the spot, a cold shiver running down his spine - a feeling he was _not_ used to, at least not for himself.

But for his blond kid…

The voice had been Hinata’s, and he would gamble Igneel's left wing that she had her Byakugan active.

By extension the Uchiha too.

Busted.

Kurama was already with his wings out and with Naruto's collar on his paws at that point, pulling him out of there flying, when he noticed the thin tendril of shadow extending from a certain pineapple-haired shinobi on the opposing group.

"Shit! Naruto, we need to leave, now!"

"Why? Aren't we going to help them?"

" _Kagemane no jutsu_ , success."

Just noticing what happened, Naruto struggled against the hold along with Kurama, but both found that in their current situation there was little they could do.

"Why the hell are you using magic against us! I thought we had a deal!"

"So, I was right after all huh, Kyuubi? Troublesome demon…"

"Damn you Nara, damn you and that _stupid_ genius brain of yours!"

Naruto didn't registered that last part of the conversation, he didn't even cared after all. All that echoed on his mind was that simple last word… _demon_.

_Something_ stirred his head at that moment, and his fists clenched on restrained fury as names he _remembered(?)_ being called echoed again and again in his head… _monster_ they whispered, _demon brat_ , _why won't you die?_

"You are just like _them_... those voices from before Kurama, Igneel and Natsu…" even if his voice was slow and hard, they all could feel the sorrow and pain that filled every word "I changed my mind… we don't need your help."

"P-please Naruto-kun, i-it's not like-" Hinata pleaded, but was cut shut by a sudden outburst of Naruto.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto screamed in rage and fire exploded around him, the pressure generated by the energy he was emanating was simply too much for Shikamaru to keep the jutsu active, so after some more struggle he lifted it, allowing Naruto to once again move freely.

Said blonde just turned to his friend and said on a cold voice "We are leaving Kurama."

The fox was fast behind him, trying to calm him down with idle chat and silly anecdotes Naruto most likely already knew by heart, but still appreciated hearing from his friend by the way his face relaxed and a small smile appeared on his mouth, much to Kurama’s relief, but then Kiba had to appear in front of them, along with Akamaru, and just like that Naruto's bad mood was back with a vengeance.

"Hey, sorry ok? Maybe that was not the way, but-"

_"Karyuu no Enchuu!"_ Naruto didn’t even hesitate to send the flame-propelled punch to his face, launching Kiba into the forest, then just distancing himself from the shocked group, snarling at Akamaru when the dog growled at him before running after his master.

If someone ever told Sasuke what have just happened, he would have laughed and dismissed the clearly delusional person. But he had just seen Naruto, the happy-go-lucky blonde dobe, orange and ramen lover... the one who would die (and actually died, or so they started to think) for the safety of his friends, hurt Kiba willingly, and then step away without showing care about what just happened.

There wasn’t any doubt about it now, this _was_ Naruto Uzumaki, the feel of his chakra... Heck, the presence of a chakra network to begin with, was enough evidence already. He knew it thanks to his Sharingan, Hinata's Byakugan just confirming it.

But there was a weird mass of energy in the place where the seal was before, the feeling it gave similar to senjutsu... he may not able to use it, but he was familiar to the feel of nature chakra, and according to what he saw, this weird energy combined with Naruto's chakra continuously without depleting.

Where had his best friend been all these years? What could have happened to make him _believe_ he belonged somewhere else? The dobe's home _was_ Konoha, among them, his friends!

He would not let him go away this time, he would bring him back home, even if he had to break every bone in his body.

He would know what happened to his friend during all these years.

"You are not going anywhere dobe, we are taking you back home and clearing up all this mess" Sasuke stated coldly, already blocking his path, but at a safe distance from him and any other of those dangerous punches.

Naruto started to shake in anger, blue slitted eyes that would have maimed the raven haired guy in front of them if they could narrowed dangerously as his mouth morphed into a scowl.

"shut up… Shut Up!... SHUT UP!" and building his magic he inhaled deeply and blew out a huge twister of fire directly to him.

_"Karyuu no Hooko!"_

Sasuke felt the energy building in Naruto's lungs before he released the attack, so guessing what could come out he flashed through hand seals and blew his own sphere of fire at the same time.

_"Gokakyuu no jutsu!"_

For a moment both fire attacks clashed and fought for supremacy, but the raw fury Naruto felt fueled the dragon's fire, making it stronger than Sasuke's jutsu, increasing its size and closing in to Sasuke.

Thinking quickly, he shunshined close to Naruto, Sharingan active and spinning into the Eternal Magenkyo once again.

Both locked eyes for a second, while the now massive ball of fire was stopped by the combined effort of Sakura and Hinata, and that second of eye contact was enough for Sasuke to cast a genjutsu on Naruto and disable him, just in time to avoid most of the damage from another flaming punch directed to him, which still managed to launch him into a tree with enough force to dent it.

Coughing some blood he rose to his knees and panted there, waiting for someone to heal him. He shivered at the idea of receiving that punch on full force.

Hinata quickly run to heal him while Sakura rushed to where Kiba was being dragged by Akamaru, the dog whining all the time, her superior medical knowledge being necessary to heal him, and Shikamaru stayed behind, still keeping the fox immobile with his shadow binding.

“Enough of this” Kurama snarled, his body glowing with red energy as he grew in size, one more tail appearing behind him as he reached Akamaru’s size.

Once again the strain this energy put into the Nara’s jutsu proved to be too much, so with a final gasp the link made of shadows broke, Kurama positioning between Naruto and Sasuke with one leap, fangs bared towards the Uchiha.

"What are- oh no, you won’t!" and his eyes shone red for a moment, a spike of pain flared in Sasuke’s head - behind his eyes - making him hiss and forcing to deactivate his Sharingan.

Kurama also stumbled a bit, bringing a paw over his head, but immediately shook his head and returned to his defensive position in front of Naruto.

"How you managed-”

“My link to the kid is stronger than you think, that’s all you need to know.”

“Whatever you did to Naruto, wish it or not, I will undo.”

“What _I_ did? Are you being serious right now? What each one of you did pushed him further and further to the edge, so don’t bulshit me with all that _this is my fault_ thing! I _will_ take him away from you, and I _will_ get us back home. His _real_ home.”

"YOU CAN’T!”  Hinata cried “You can’t take him away! Not now, not ever!”

“Oh, so you finally made up your mind?” the fox mocked “Jeez, just took you a timeline reset.”

“Don’t you _dare_ talk to her like that!” Kiba shouted heatedly, Sakura forcing him to the ground as she healed him, but also directing Kurama a glare of her own.

“Don't _you_ dare talk to me like that, mutt! I haven-t forgotten your… _support_ in this… _girl’s_ decision, knowing very well how Naruto would react. Tell me, did you two had fun? Did you enjoyed as you f-”

“Actually, _Kurama_ ” Shikamaru said cooly “Hinata is right, you can’t take Naruto anywhere… at least not at this point in time.”

“Explain yourself Nara.”

“Today Naruto would have returned to the village after his training trip with Jiraya-sama” he said simply, making Kurama’s eyes widen “Akatsuki will start collecting the other demons-”

“My siblings” Kurama said softly “They are my siblings… as annoying and crazy as they might be.”

If Shikamaru was surprised by that confession, he said nothing about it.

Kurama sighed in defeat, his fourth tail disappearing with the action along with his extra size, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his waist coat after checking that he was just unconscious, and that no... _unpleasant_ reactions within his - lost - memories would be triggered thanks to the Uchiha, then started to lift him.

"Where do you think you are going?" Shikamaru asked, tense and ready to attack, making Kurama sigh once again.

This would be a loooooong day for both he and Naruto.

"Get the mutt back on his feet, then we go straight to Tsunade's office without attracting attention to ourselves. I won't escape… I hate to admit it but there’s really nowhere we could go without endangering innocents. Once we are inside her office I will explain what happened, so we can finally leave to find a way back home."

"But Naruto-kun is finally back home now!"

"Like I said, I will explain once we are on the old hag's office" Kurama answered to Hinata, too tired to be angry anymore, and then he left Naruto in the shadow of a nearby tree to wait until the group was ready to leave.

Not too long after that Kurama was flying, with Naruto hanging from his paws, in the direction of a village he was sure they would never see again. Damn his stupid change of heart, otherwise he would have already murdered them all.

* * *

**Spell/Jutsu guide**

_Karyuu no Hooko -_ Fire dragon's breath.

_Karyuu no Tekken -_ Fire dragon's iron fist.

_Karyuu no Enchu -_ Fire dragon's elbow.

_Gokakyuu no jutsu -_ Grand fireball technique.

_Kagemane no jutsu -_ Shadow imitation technique.

**Author's Note:**

> Due to the length of each chapter, and my intention of making each one worth reading, the time between uploads might be long. I'll try to keep a steady upload schedule anyway.


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